A hotel bedroom repeated thirty times. A typical flat repeated over ten floors. On projects like those, groups in Revit save a great deal of work — yet used in the wrong place they make every later edit harder.
This article runs from placing furniture, through grouping, to lettering on an elevation. To learn modelling and documentation end to end, see the Revit Architecture course.
Placing furniture in Revit with the Component tool
The tool sits on the Architecture tab, Build panel, button Component.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Place a Component | Places a component already loaded into the project. Pick the type in the Type Selector, then click a position |
| Model In-Place | Builds a solid inside the project itself, without a separate library file |
The Component button is greyed out while a sketch-based tool is still running, for instance a Ramp that has not been finished. This is a common source of confusion: people assume the tool is broken when the earlier command simply needs closing.
Autodesk documents the tool on Place a Component, and it appears on the Architecture, Structure and Systems tabs alike.
Three host types: why a wall light will not sit on a floor
Loadable components are classified by the host they need. The host type decides where a component can go, and it explains why a light family refuses to land on a floor.
| Host type | Typical components |
|---|---|
| Wall hosted | Wall lights, sockets, switches, wall units. They place only while the cursor is over a wall |
| Ceiling hosted | Ceiling lights, air diffusers, smoke detectors. A ceiling has to exist first |
| Face based, or no host | Tables, chairs, cabinets, planting. They sit freely on the current work plane |
The host type cannot be read from the family name. The reliable test is to try it: run the tool, hover over a wall and then over open space, and watch where the cursor accepts a click.
Ceiling hosted components cost beginners the most time, because the ceiling has to be modelled first. Building ceilings and ceiling grids is covered in how to create ceilings in Revit.
Positioning and repeating a component
Once placed, a component can be positioned three ways, in rising order of precision.
- Drag with the mouse. Quick but imprecise, fit only for a first rough layout.
- Type into the temporary dimension that appears when the component is selected. Accurate to the millimetre.
- Add a real dimension with the Dimension tool and lock it. The component then travels when the wall moves.
The third is worth the effort wherever a fixed clearance matters, such as a socket exactly 300 from a door reveal. Dimensioning and locking are covered in dimensions in Revit.
The spacebar rotates a component 90 degrees before the click. On a wall-hosted component it also flips the inside and outside face.
For repetition, the Array tool spaces copies evenly and keeps them associated, so changing the count once updates the whole run. That tool and its neighbours are covered in how to copy in Revit.
Revit model groups: the Model Group menu, Create Group and detail groups
The Model Group button sits on the Architecture tab, Model panel. Its menu holds three items.
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Place Model Group | Places an existing group at a new position |
| Create Group | Gathers the current selection into a new group |
| Load as Group into Open Projects | Loads a whole project file in as a single group |
| Item | What it means |
|---|---|
| Name | The group name. It is prefilled Group 1; replace it with something that reads, such as TYPICAL-BEDROOM |
| Model | A group of model elements: walls, doors, furniture |
| Detail | A group of annotation: detail lines, text, symbols |
Those two are not a preference but a rule: one group cannot hold both model elements and view-specific annotation. Select both and click Create Group, and Revit makes a model group while pushing the annotation into an attached detail group, as Autodesk describes on Create an Attached Detail Group.
The quickest route is to select the elements first, then click Create Group on the Modify | Multi-Select tab.
Group or family, and creating a group for a repeated flat
The two are easily confused, yet the line between them is sharp. A group is a set of elements that already exist in the project; edit one instance and every copy follows, and it has no parameters of its own and no .rfa file. A family is one component with its own geometry and parameters, living in an .rfa file that loads into other projects.
The choice fits in a sentence: several different elements standing together call for a group; one component with its own geometry calls for a family. A complete bedroom is a group; the bed inside it is a family. Building families is covered in how to create a family in Revit.
Apartment projects lean on groups heavily. Hover over almost any part of one and a Model Group highlights.
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Concrete slab group | A whole storey of slab sits in a single group. Edit one place and every copy follows |
| 2 | External wall group | The perimeter walls belong to a different group. The modeller split groups by element, not by room |
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Group name | Named by an in-house convention: project code, element type, then the person responsible. The name alone says whose group it is |
| 2 | Reference Level and Origin Level Offset | These two decide what level the group lands on when pasted to another storey |
Both the gain and the cost are plain. The gain: identical flats are edited once for the whole run. The cost: groups nested several deep mean pressing Tab repeatedly to select one wall, and a heavier model.
Hence the rule of thumb: group only where at least three identical copies exist. Grouping a one-off simply makes later editing harder.
The biggest trap: rooms and room tags inside a group
A group containing a room gives every copy a room, and the room name is identical across all of them. Rename one and they all change, including the ones that were meant to differ.
The remedy is to keep rooms outside the group. Let the group hold walls, doors and furniture; place rooms and tags separately after the group has been laid down. It costs a little more work and saves a great deal of trouble when room schedules are built, as covered in room areas in Revit.
Before grouping, think about what will be edited later. Whatever is genuinely identical in every copy belongs in the group; whatever differs from place to place stays outside.
Revit model text: 3D lettering and Vietnamese diacritics
Model text is lettering with real thickness, built as solid geometry in the model. It is nothing like annotation text: annotation lives on the sheet, model text lives on the building. Use it for signage, building names, house numbers and decorative lettering on an elevation.
The Model Text tool is greyed out in a plan view. Model text is work-plane based and needs a vertical work plane, so an elevation or section has to be open before the button lights up.
| No. | Component | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Text group | Text Font, Text Size and the Bold and Italic boxes. That is everything the type controls |
The two parameters that matter most are not on the type but on the instance Properties: Depth is the thickness of the lettering and Material its material. Text Size is measured in real millimetres on the building and does not scale with the drawing.
The first question Vietnamese users ask is whether model text supports the language. The measured answer is yes, with every diacritic, including a dot below a circumflex vowel and the horn on ơ and ư. No font change and nothing extra to install. Autodesk describes the placement sequence on Add Model Text.
Typing straight into the Edit Text box sometimes confuses a Vietnamese input method. Composing the text elsewhere and pasting it in is the reliable route.
Try it: turning a typical bedroom into a group
A thirty-minute exercise. It works through groups in Revit end to end, on a model that already has the walls and door of one room.
- Go to Architecture, Build panel, Component, then Place a Component. Put a bed in the room.
- Try placing a wall light in the middle of the room, away from any wall. Note what happens.
- Place that wall light on an actual wall. Before clicking, press the spacebar and note which face changes.
- Select the bed and type into its temporary dimension to set it exactly 600 from the wall.
- Select all the walls, the door and the furniture of the room. Click Create Group and name it
TYPICAL-BEDROOM. - Add a text note to the selection and try grouping again. Note how Revit handles the annotation.
- Paste the group at two more positions. Edit one bed in the first copy and check the other two.
- Place rooms and room tags for all three copies, after the groups are down. Give them three different names.
- Open an elevation, run Model Text, paste in a Vietnamese string with diacritics and place it on the façade.
- Select the new lettering, change Depth in Properties, then save the project.
Steps 6 and 8 are the two worth doing carefully: one shows the rule that splits groups, the other shows why rooms belong outside them.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the Component button greyed out?
A sketch-based tool such as Ramp or Floor is still open. Finish or cancel it and the button lights up again.
Group or family — which is better?
Several different elements standing together call for a group. One component with its own geometry that needs parameters calls for a family.
Why does renaming one room rename the whole run of flats?
Because the room sits inside the group. Keep rooms and room tags outside, placing them after the group is down.
Does model text support Vietnamese diacritics?
Yes, all of them, in the default Arial font. Compose the text elsewhere and paste it into the Edit Text box so the input method cannot garble it.
Related articles
- How to create a family in Revit — when to build a family instead of grouping
- How to copy in Revit — the Array tool and the other editing commands
- Room areas in Revit — why rooms belong outside a group
- How to create ceilings in Revit — model the ceiling before placing ceiling-hosted components